IT was the embrace of two distinctly different cultures with similar attitudes. The punk movement and roots-reggae exploded in the United Kingdom in 1976 with rebel sounds that challenged the country’s establishment.

Thirty-six of the reggae songs embraced by punks during that period can be heard on Step Forward Youth, a double compact disc released on November 30 by Greensleeves Records.

It is accompanied by extensive liner notes that revisit one of the headiest times in modern UK history. The songs preceded Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as that country’s prime minister, and marked the emergence of home-grown reggae bands like Aswad and Steel Pulse.

Aswad’s Three Babylon and Ku Klux Klan by Steel Pulse are part of Step Forward Youth which is dominated by songs from Jamaican artistes. Police And Thieves by Junior Murvin is one of the best known tracks on the compilation; it made the British pop chart in 1975 and influenced punk bands like The Clash.

Cokane in My Brain by Dillinger, Leroy Smart’s B alistic Affair, Two Sevens Clash (Culture), UK Skanking (Capital Letters), Jah Is I Guiding Star (Tappa Zukie) and the original version of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner by a pre-Black Uhuru Michael Rose, are also on the multi-song set.

An interesting inclusion is Roast Fish & Cornbread by Lee “Scratch” Perry. He composed, produced and performed this song, as well as produced Police And Thieves. It was Perry who encouraged Bob Marley to record Punky Reggae Party, the reggae star’s 1977 salute to the punk movement.

That year, The Clash’s defiant self-titled debut album was released. It included a raucous version of Police And Thieves, and boldly acknowledged the impact reggae and black protests throughout the UK, had on their sound.

Reviewing The Clash on its 40th anniversary last year, Scott Rowley wrote on loudersound.com: “If Police And Thieves embraced multi-racial Britain, both musically and philosophically, White Riot was a little more singular. A two-chord rallying cry – rock music with all the blues stripped out of it (the album version is twice as fast and three times more furious than the laughably rinky-dink 7” version that came out just a month before in March 1977) – White Riot suggests that white people could learn a lot from west London’s black community, that if they too stood up against authority they could take over, instead of taking orders.”

Step Forward Youth is also available on vinyl and digital downloads.